Smoking, in today’s world, ideally refers to smoking a cigarette or sometimes a cigar. However, the idea of smoking substances has been known to exist as far as 5000 BC. It existed mainly in African and Indian cultures as rituals in various ceremonies. Over the years it has developed from in the beginning natural plant stems and leaves to pipes to now handy and easy cigarettes.

The main reason for a person to smoke is the short-lived good feeling that it gives the smoker. The substance giving this feeling might vary but tobacco is the most popular substance. Tobacco comes from the leaves of the plants belonging to the species Nicotiana. The chemical nicotine is what makes smoking tobacco enjoyable and addictive. In addition to this, marijuana is also used,; usually flavored with tobacco or herbal fruits.

It is mainly teenagers who take this habit into their adulthood, especially when they start as young as 18, which is very common this day. This growth in current years can be related to the appealing advertisements of mainly cigarettes. Developing countries contribute the most smoking teenagers because of the lack of awareness of the health risks associated with smoking.

Over years of constant smoking, the chemicals in the tobacco smoke deposit on the lungs, with time, turning into a tumour, leading to lung cancer. Smoking is responsible for majority of lung cancer deaths. The rapid growth in the number of deaths due to smoking related lung cancer has to lead to many campaigns to stop smoking. Even packets of cigarettes now hold health warnings claiming that smoking is harmful to health.

Smoking has been banned in certain countriesin public areas to get people to cease smoking. In airports, special smoking rooms are allocated for smoking persons. These efforts are to not only stop smoking people of the habit, but to reduce passive smokers. Passive smokers suffer a greater risk as they don’t have the advantage of the filter found in almost all cigarettes. This has resulted in many protests by passive smokers to cease smoking, not only in public areas, but to halt smoking in general.

Some might say that the industry to cease smoking is growing as fast as the tobacco industry. Things like nicotine patches, and various types of treatments are being used to help people quit the habit and to stop smoking. A smoker usually takes a couple of few years to get rid of the habit, but with the help of these instruments the period taken to halt smoking has reduced to months.

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